EP 384 542 describes a process for preparing secondary alkylamines by catalytic hydrogenation in the presence of a nickel-containing catalyst which contains copper, and optionally cobalt as a promoter.
DE 39 14 875 C2 relates to a process for the catalytic hydrogenation of aliphatic nitriles to amines using a nickel catalyst on a support containing magnesium oxide and silicon dioxide. The catalyst has a molar ratio of silicon dioxide to nickel of between 0.1 and 0.3 and a molar ratio of magnesium to nickel of between 0.25 and 0.05, as well as an average pore radius of 1.5 to 4.0 nm.
However, despite comparatively good hydrogenation results, the state-of-the-art processes generally have some weaknesses, including (1) the reaction conditions (pressure, temperature), (2) the activity of the catalyst used for hydrogenation, (3) the filterability of the catalyst, and (4) the selectivity of the reaction. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a process with a wide range of applications which makes it possible to prepare, as desired, a saturated primary amine, a saturated secondary amine, or an unsaturated primary amine, in high yields.